Red Wings have the momentum heading into playoff series vs. Anaheim, which wasn't sharp near the end

Daniel Cleary (left) and captain Henrik Zetterberg, who both played on the Detroit Red Wings 2008 Stanley Cup championship team, stretch before practice Monday on the eve of their playoff series against the Anaheim Ducks.Brendan Savage | MLive.com

ANAHEIM, Calif. – The Detroit Red Wings in years past had little to play for near the end of the regular season and often faced a hot team on a roll in the first round of the playoffs.

This time, the roles are reversed. The Anaheim Ducks were locked into the No. 2 playoff seed in the Western Conference for some time and weren't sharp down the stretch, going 3-4-1 in their final eight games and 8-9-2 in their final 19.

Game 1 of their Western Conference quarterfinal series is tonight at 10:30 at the Honda Center (Fox Sports Detroit).

“They've been waiting to play a really meaningful game for a while now,'' Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said of his team. “Whether we're good enough, time will tell.''

“We've had to play like playoff games here lately and we got it going here the last week and a half,'' Red Wings defenseman Jonathan Ericsson said. “We feel like we have something really good going and of course you want to be at the top of your game this time of year. In previous years we may have relaxed a little bit (late in season) because we know we're (in the playoffs) and try to save our energy but we right now we feel like we can keep going and we have a good chance here.''

“We've been a pretty good team here of late and we think that gives us confidence,'' coach Mike Babcock.

Babcock reconfirmed that he's using the same lineup he did the last four games:

Henrik Zetterberg-Pavel Datsyuk-Justin Abdelkader

Johan Franzen-Valtteri Filppula-Daniel Cleary

Gustav Nyquist-Joakim Andersson-Damien Brunner

Patrick Eaves-Cory Emmerton-Jordin Tootoo

Todd Bertuzzi, Mikael Samuelsson (scratched)

Niklas Kronwall-Jonathan Ericsson

Kyle Quincey-Brendan Smith

Danny DeKeyser-Jakub Kindl

Ian White, Carlo Colaiacovo, Brian Lashoff (scratched)

Jimmy Howard (starting)

Jonas Gustavsson

Jonas Hiller, who split time in net with Viktor Fasth, will start for Anaheim, even though Boudreau wouldn't confirm it.

“I haven't stated that I'm going with Hiller yet,'' Boudreau said. “He came off the ice first. Viktor was with the defensemen, right?

“(Hiller) will be a strong consideration because he's a good goalie. He's played great, as had Viktor. It's a toss-up quite frankly between them. If there's any advantage for Hiller it's because he's got playoff experience.''